The United Nations launched into World Space Week yesterday, with the presentation of a navigation satellite model, donated by Russia, for display at the world body’s offices in Vienna, while also highlighting the contribution space science and technology has made to human development. “Satellite navigation-related technology supports many civil, scientific and commercial functions,” the Director-General of the UN Office at Vienna (UNOV), Yury Fedotov, stated. “It is widely used in the areas of telecommunications, transportation, meteorology and disaster forecasting.”
The World Space Week is the largest annual space event in the world. Observed during the week of 4-10 October, the General Assembly proclaimed World Space Week in 1999, to celebrate the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition. “This Week has become a world-wide celebration of science and technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition,” said the Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Mazlan Othman. “UNOOSA, together with its partners,” she added, “has been working to bring the benefits of space to Earth, to make the seemingly remote and abstract world of outer space of concrete use to people worldwide.”
